During the Munich Security Conference, Mr Morawiecki defended a law which would see jail terms handed down for people who suggested the country was complicit in the Nazi genocides from 1941 to 1945.

And while responding to a direct accusation that Poles had collaborated with the Gestapo, he claimed there were "Jewish perpetrators" just as there were Polish ones.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Mr Morawiecki's comments as "outrageous", "unacceptable", and tantamount to denying the Holocaust which involved the systematic murder of around two-thirds of the Jewish population of Europe.

The Polish government has defended its Prime Minister's comments, saying he did not intend to deny the Holocaust nor allege that Jewish victims bore responsibility for "Nazi German-perpetrated genocide".

Mr Morawiecki's spokeswoman said his remarks "should be interpreted as a sincere call for open discussion of crimes committed against Jews during the Holocaust, regardless of the nationality of those involved in each crime."